This article addresses the debate on pre-evaluative choices of impact depictions and the forms of responses between applicants and funders. By adopting a reflexive perspective on the social impact of social sciences, this article explores researchers' vocabularies in the research proposals and mid-term reports of consortiums during the Strategic…

The authors extend findings from qualitative research on the effects of action research by reporting two linked quantitative studies (N = 80 and 105). They found that teachers who participated in collaborative action research experienced statistically significant improvements in attitudes to educational research and teacher efficacy. The pre-post…

The article reviews career education proposals of the Field Initiated Studies (FIS) program of the Research Projects Branch, Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. (SBH)

Proposals satisfy a number of functions in evaluation work. This article examines how these functions differ depending on whether the proposal concerns a preordinate study in which methods are prespecified or an emergent study in which decisions about methods are made as the study proceeds. (Author/SLD)

Program theory-driven evaluation science uses substantive knowledge, as opposed to method proclivities, to guide program evaluations. It aspires to update, clarify, simplify, and make more accessible the evolving theory of evaluation practice commonly referred to as theory-driven or theory-based evaluation. The evaluator in this chapter provides a…

This report summarizes a study of the effectiveness of the National Science Foundation's Research Opportunities for Women (ROW) program in encouraging female scientists and engineers to initiate research careers. Study findings are based on telephone interviews conducted with 657 ROW-eligible women: 255 who applied through the ROW program, 302 who…

This report, published in two volumes, provides a documentary record of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Science Development Program (SDP). Information is given on overall university funding levels and on other development programs, with SDP goals and procedures described in detail. Using information on budgets and goals as well as…

The University of Tennessee Knoxville's (UTK) predoctoral training program, which is designed to increase the participation of women and minorities in educational research, is described. The program consists of six student associates (second-year doctoral in education and home economics), six field associates (individuals with doctorates who are…